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Table of Contents
Title
Holy Moldy Bread!: Do Different Types of Bread Mold at Different Times?Problem Scenario
The answer to the question of bread and how long it takes to mold will help people decide what kind of bread is best to buy.Broad Question
How long does it take for mold to grow on bread.Specific Question
How long does it take mold to start growing on various types of bead when at room temperature?Hypothesis
I think that it will take at least one week before any mold appears on the bread. I believe that the white bread will take ten days before mold appears on it because it has a light color and the white flour is more processed than the other types of flour. I think that the wheat bread will take fourteen days to mold because it is darker in color and is more dense than the white bread. Lastly, I think that the rye bread will take twenty-one days to mold because it is a darker color than any of the other types of bread. It is also more dense than the other types of bread. I think that these variables (density and ingredients) will effect the amount of time it takes for mold to appear on the bread.Graph of Hypothesis
Variables
Independent Variable:
The independent variable for my experiment is the kind of bread. I will be using white, wheat and rye bread.Dependent Variable:
The dependent variable for my experiment is when the mold forms.Variables That Need To Be Controlled:
The size of the loafThe temperature that the bread will be exposed to
The size of the slice of bread
Vocabulary List That Needs Explanation
Bread mold: Bread mold is many celled fungus. Its scientific name is Rhizopus stolonifer and there are many different types of this species.Mycotoxins: Micotoxins are poisonous subsances that are produced by certian molds that are usually found in grain and nut crops, and can also be found on celery, grape juice and apples.
General Plan
To do this experiment use the King Arthur Flour recipes for white, wheat and rye bread. Bake each type of bread following the recipe's instructions. Once the bread has baked, let it cool before cutting three slices from each kind of bread. Next, take these slices and put each slice in a sealed plastic bag. Lastly, label each slice in order to identify it during observation. Observe the bread on a regular basis and write observations based on what is seen. When mold appears on the bread, write that date on the label. After bread molds focus only on the bread that has not molded.Potential Problems And Solutions
A potential problem would occur if the bread failed to rise. If this were to happen, re-make the bread and verify the measurements to ensure that they are accurate. Bread should be placed in a draft free environment to ensure that the yeast is properly activated which enables the bread to rise. Another potential problem would be if the bread did not mold but instead became stale due to lack of moisture. To resolve this problem, duplicate the experiment by re-making each type of bread. Allow to cool for the same amount of time, but change the environment so that the bread is exposed to more moisture than it was in the previous attempt.Safety Or Environmental Concerns
There are three key safety concerns in this experiment; the use of a hot oven, bread knife and the growth of bread mold. First, this experiment requires the use of a hot oven. This tool is necessary to the preparation of the bread as it must bake. Caution must be used when placing or removing the bread from the oven. One must be sure to wear oven mitts or use potholders to protect hands. When removing each loaf of bread, one must place the loaf on a cooling rack or metal surface until the bread is cool to the touch. The second safety concern is use of a sharp bread knife to slice the bread. When the bread is ready to slice it should be placed on a cutting board. The bread knife should be held firmly by the handle with fingers kept away from the blade when slicing. Lastly, the result of this experiment is the growth of mold. Caution must be used to avoid possible contact with the skin.Experimental Design
Number Of Trials:
There were three trials run during my experiment, the white bread, wheat bread and rye bread.Number Of Subjects In Each trial:
There were three slices or each kind of bread.When data will be collected
Data was collected on the date that bread molded.Number of Observations:
The bread was checked daily and ten observations have been logged.Where will data be collected?:
I collected the data by writing the date the bread molded on a sticky not that was attached to the bag that held the bread. After all the bread molded I collected the sticky notes, found out how many total days it took for each slice of bread to mold and finally, I copied it into a data table.Resources and Budget Table
Data Table
Background Research
There are many different types of mold. One of the most common types is Rhizopus stolonifer, more commonly known as bread mold. Bread mold is a type of fungus that grows in all shapes, sizes and colors. This is the fuzzy stuff that gathers on bread, sometimes only days, after it is baked, or bought by its consumer. What many don't know is that bread mold is not just fuzzy green and white fungi that you see on the surface. There is more to it, you just have to look a little deeper.The life of all bread mold starts as reproductive bodies that float in the air until landing somewhere that the mold spore can grow. These reproductive bodies can be spread by insects and other animals as well as many other living organisms. This process is similar to that of dandelion seeds when the seeds are blown by the wind or taken by living organisms to a new place. It is here that the seeds can grow into the dandelion and spread more seeds around. In the case of bread mold, the reproductive bodies find a warm and moist surface, such as bread. They feed and reproduce on the bread, eventually spreading more "seeds," and begining the process all over again. Bread mold will reproduce as long as it has a nutrient source. It can double in size in an hour. If looking hard enough, mold spores can be spotted by the naked eye. On the other hand, if one were to look at mold spores through a microscope, they would be faced with something that strongly resembled a small and skinny mushroom. In many cases, the body of mold is made of the root threads that invade the food that the mold lives on, a stalk that rises above the food, and spores that make up the end of these stalks. When there is a lot of mold on the bread, then it has "Invaded it deeply."
Once mold is spotted on bread, it has become inedible. This can be determined by simply looking at the bread and observing the "symptoms" of mold on the bread. The bread mold draws nutrients from the bread to survive, therefore destroying the bread. This is the mold feeding on the bread. While feeding, the mold is also growing and reproducing. When there is a lot of mold on the bread, it is very dangerous to eat. By this time the mold has spread deeply throughout the bread. In addition to this, some molds produce "mycotoxins" which are poisonous substances that can make people sick. It is for this reason, that bread with bread mold is not edible.
Many people may wonder how to prevent mold, or slow down the growth rate of mold spores in the air. There is only one way to completely prevent mold from growing, but a number of ways to slow the growing process. To prevent mold from growing, let unwrapped bread get stale in a place, such as a dark cabinet. This would result in hard bread that can be used as croutons, crackers or crostinis. To slow down the growth of mold and give the consumer more time to eat or use soft bread, it can be wrapped in seran wrap and put in a plastic bag without refrigeration. This will help the bread last longer without losing its flavor. Freezing the bread is also an option. It will keep the bread for up to three months. The bread will still have all of the flavor that it did before freezing. Lastly, there are many small things you can do to maintain an edible loaf of bread. An example would be simply keeping your bread away from the highter parts of your kitchen where heat rises when a meal is prepared. These are just some of the many ways to delay bread from molding. It is just a matter of temporarily preventing the bread mold from growing and keeping the taste of the bread. All of these methods will do that.
Fungi is a big category, with bread mold being one very specific type. Examples of other species of mold are those that grow on fruit, damp rugs or pillows. Around the world, fungi are responsible for trillions of dollars in damage every year because of food spoilage. Money has also been spent replacing on old couches, pillows, blankets and rugs that have been exposed the the average mold spore. Bread mold inflicts many problems upon the world and its inhabitants. Thankfully, mold isn't all bad, it is the base of a medicine known as penicillin, and is curing illnesses all around the world.
References
Detailed Procedure
Diagram
Results
All Raw Data
Graphs
Photos
Data Analysis
This graph shows that the white bread molded first in nine days and fifteen days. The rye bread molded second in nineteen days and twenty one days. Finally the wheat bread molded in seventeen and twenty days. The main thing that I noticed while looking at my data and while observing was the fact that, within each kind of bread, there were two slices of bread that molded in the same amount of time.Conclusion
My hypothesis was that the white bread would mold first in ten days, the wheat bread would mold second in fourteen days and that the rye bread would mold last in twenty one days. My hypothesis about the white bread was correct because it did mold first but it molded in a little more time than I thought it would. Other than the exception of the white bread, I reject my hypothesis. The rye bread molded second and the wheat bread molded last, plus they molded in a different time frame than I originally expected.Discussion
The data that has been collected is very unique in pattern. For every loaf of bread (three slices) the bread molded on two different days. Because there were three slices and two days, two of the slices molded on the same day and those slices always molded on the first day, not the second day. This pattern is very interesting because the same thing occurred for each type of bread. This data didn't support my hypothesis. I did think that the white bread would mold first, but I believed that the wheat would mold second, not the rye. On the other hand, my numbers were fairly close. I believed that the white bread would mold in ten days, it molded in nine days and fifteen days. I believed that the wheat bread would mold in fourteen days, it took nineteen and twenty one. Lastly I believed that the rye bread would mold in twenty one days, it molded in twenty and seventeen days. There was one problem that was faced while preforming this experiment. The first time the bread was made, it didn't mold, it became stale. The only obvious solution was to remake the bread, and so that is what happened.This experiment is only the base of many other experiments. There could be experiments on the rate of bread mold growth, the amount of bread mold that grows in a certain amount of time, and an experiment could even be done that looks closer at the mold to see what is on the inside.
Benefit to Community and/or Science
Bread is a staple item for the typical family and is used to make a number of things. It is for this reason, that an experiment researching the amount of time it takes for bread to mold would be very helpful. Because there are many people that have begun to make their bread as opposed to buying the bread, there are a lot of people that need to know which kind of bread to make. This experiment shows that wheat bread takes the longest to mold, therefore wheat bread would be the ideal bread to make.There are also many recipes that require certain types of bread. This experiment would prove useful so a time frame could be developed for the different types of bread. If this were to happen it would be easy to gauge how much time there is to use the bread before it molds.Abstract
The question behind bread and molding is a big one and would require a lot of experiments to give people a better understanding about bread mold. The experiment that I conducted measured the time it takes for bread to mold and I found that white bread molds first, rye second and wheat last. I did this experiment because I wanted to know how many days it should take bread to mold after you buy it in the store. I found my data very interesting because the white bread molded in about a week and when you buy it in the store in takes more than a week to mold. This is due to the preservatives. Before I started my experiment, I thought that the white would mold first, that the wheat would mold second and the rye last. My actual data showed that the white bread did mold first, but instead the rye molded second and the wheat last. By the end of the experiment the data was similar to my hypothesis, but the order was different.